


Pandora's Box

by derseroyalty



Series: seasonal shift [3]
Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: (งツ)ง, F/M, M/M, Surprise! - Freeform, season au, the third in the series!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2020-11-15 02:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20858870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derseroyalty/pseuds/derseroyalty
Summary: The Seasons are in turmoil after destroying the object that lets them control their powers. As they’re hell-bent on destroying the Earth, the Winds have to come together and try to at least stop the four most powerful forces on the planet.(“This is getting old,” Luke grumbles, staring at the molten sunshine burning the trees in front of him. “I hate his temper tantrums.”“You think you have it bad?” Marcel demands. “Winter has icicles and frostbite. It fucking SUCKS.”Smitty and Kryoz exchange a look. “We need some help,” Smitty mutters. “Big time.”)





	1. “of their own shadow walked, and called it death”

**Author's Note:**

> surprise! the third installment in the series! :D
> 
> this was a consolation for me, at least, because I finished act one scene zero lol. I figured my Seasonal boys needed some challenges to shake them up, so I managed to come up with this!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy! happy halloween!

Smitty knows there’s something wrong when Luke solidifies in front of him, fear sparking off and sending bits of sunlight everywhere.

“Luke?” Smitty asks, eyebrows furrowing as Kryoz looks up from his bed. “Is everything okay?”

It’s nearing the end of Summer and close to the transition to Autumn. With the Winds finally active, the Seasons were stronger than ever and were able to stay together more and more. 

Smitty and Kryoz had decided to take a vacation together when Spring had ended. They were spending time in Greece, enjoying the salty breeze, when Luke had shown up. 

The Summer Wind’s in a fit. He’s got wide eyes under his sunglasses and he’s breathing heavily, like he’s run a marathon. Is that even possible in wind form?

Apparently so, since Luke gulps precious breathes of air and shudders. “We’ve got a problem.”

“No shit,” Kryoz sighs as he sits up from the fancy bed he’d been laying in. They had been overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and Smitty was thinking about ordering fish. Did he technically have to order any? No, but it was satisfying to still get a beautiful platter decked out with various fruits. The simple things, y’know? “What is it?”

Luke takes another deep breath, and then—

“They’re fighting. Like, an actual, legitimate, fight.”

Within an instant, Smitty and Kryoz are on their feet. They exchange a quick glance, nodding at each other, and take Luke’s hand. The Summer Wind lets his aura wash over them, tinged with sunbeams and the smell of the ocean. 

This isn’t good. 

The Seasons fighting were so incredibly rare that they sometimes didn’t know what to do when it actually occurred. Winter had gotten actually pissed at Spring one time and kept his hold over the Seasonal object for longer than he should’ve. Spring, one out of two to hold grudges, almost went to war before he apologized.

But Summer and Autumn? One stubborn bastard and the other a major grudge-holder? This would not be good for either parties. 

When they appear in Yellowstone, Summer’s close to blowing up Old Faithful. He’s yelling, sunlight shooting off his fingertips as he throws his hands into the air. 

Autumn’s approach is quite different. He’s snarling, jaw set with rage, but his anger is on the colder side of the spectrum. The sharp air of Fall wraps around his form like a shield and he stands his ground against Summer.

_ “Notus, to me!” _ Summer roars, flinging his hand to Luke. The Wind yelps as he gets snatched and tossed to his side, looking fearfully at his Season.

_ “Eurus, with me.” _ Autumn’s voice oozes disgust and contempt. Kryoz gets snapped to his side and Smitty’s already had it when he sees his boyfriend get taken.

“ENOUGH!” He yells, flinging himself into the middle. “What the FUCK are you two arguing about?!”

“IT’S NOT OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, WIND!” Tyl—no, Summer, responds. “THIS CONCERNS THE SEASONS ONLY!”

“If Zephyrus wants to, I will allow it.” Autumn snaps. “He’s pissed because I’m demanding the Seasonal object a few weeks early.”

“IT’S NOT YOUR FUCKING TIME!” Summer roars again, his spiky crown glinting in the hot sun. “WAIT YOUR FUCKING TURN!”

“It’s getting too hot, Summer! We need to switch so we can cool the planet down for a while.” Autumn says, exasperated. “Just give me the fucking crown so I can fix this.”

Summer’s expression turns even more deadly, if that was possible. “Are you saying I _ destroy?” _

Autumn barely has to prepare himself as Summer launches himself at him, fingertips outstretched as he swipes at his boyfriend. Autumn, of course, retaliates and throws a solid punch, catching Summer’s cheek as they go down and start fighting.

“Jesus shit,” Luke snarls as he rushes to his other Wind’s sides. “We can’t fucking stop this. Any of us go in, we’re screwed.”

Kryoz is still catching his breath. “Autumn’s reaching for the crown. Is he—?”

“Wait, stop, NO!” Smitty screams, rushing forward. It’s common law, they say, in nature, to not mess with forces you cannot control. The fae know this, other creatures know this, mortals do not. The Seasons and Winds know that they are above this, of course, but even they have their weak moments. Emotions, after all, are quite a bitch to deal with. 

This force in particular gives the Seasons their powers. 

Autumn grapples with Summer and grasps the golden crown, glaring at his love. “You fucking prick,” he spits, an icy chill passing over the metal. Tyler gasps and his hands shoot up to the crown, glowing gold as he pours his own power in. “You only care about yourself!”

“Go suck Winter’s dick,” Summer hisses back. “We all know you love him the most anyways!”

Autumn looks enraged and yells angrily as he dumps his power into the crown. "Fuck you," he chokes out. Summer follows suit, and Smitty has no choice but to cower with the other Winds as a vivid red light washes over them from the crown. Luke covers them with a strong breeze and they brace themselves against the ground. 

Right before the world goes red, Smitty looks up, and stares at the tear tracks on Summer and Autumn’s faces, tears blurring together. 

* * *

When they come to, the world is aflame. 

Autumn’s dissolved into a mass of leaves that’re starting to mold together. He screams, voice cracked and rattled with pain. Kryoz steps forward, jaw dropped as he stares at his Season. 

Summer’s got it worse. Since he’s actually wearing the crown, it’s melted into molten gold and it’s dripping down his corporeal body. Summer wails and crashes against a nearby geyser, screeching as the eruption of water does nothing to stop his burning. 

“SUMMER!” Luke screams, rushing forward. Smitty barely has any strength to drag him and his boyfriend back, tears dripping down his face. “We can’t,” he rasps, a soft breeze ruffling the flower crown on his head. 

A burning sensation travels up Smitty’s arm and starts sizzling on his head. He gasps and hurriedly goes to rip the tokens from the Seasons off, hands shaking as the bracelet from Autumn rips itself apart on the ground and the circlet from Summer follows the same fate. 

“If they turned into this,” Kryoz whispers, staring at his Season, “then what about the other ones?” 

An ear-splitting shriek in Smitty’s head answers that question. Zephyrus doubles over, clenching his jaw as he tries to not cry out. Spring is becoming his own monster wherever he was, and judging by the other tokens snapping off and breaking, so was Winter. 

There’s a summons from Boreas, faint on the breeze. 

Luke’s the one to bring them together and scatter them into the wind. Even as they travel to wherever Marcel was, Smitty can already feel the changes that the Earth was about to go through. 

They land on a gorgeous California beach; as gorgeous as it could be, at least, with the least amount of pollution in its waters. Boreas is waiting for them on the wet sand, arms crossed. 

“So,” Marcel simply asks, looking worse for wear. Icicles coat his skin and clothes. A slender handprint is burned into his left cheek. There’s frostbite on his fingertips; was that even possible? “Anyone wanna tell me what the fuck happened to Winter?” 

Luke and Kryoz look exhausted, so Smitty takes a step forward, opens his mouth, and promptly crumples to the ground, his body finally giving out as he crashes into the waves. 


	2. "before the stars have the skies, at morning in the dark I rise"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I listened to Nattoppet by Detektivbyrån for this entire chapter. legitimately one of my favorite songs of all time. <3

“Thank god you’re light.” Marcel’s voice is muffled as Smitty cracks his eyes open. “I’m already hurting enough as it is, and I honestly don’t think I can summon anymore wind for myself right now.”

Luke curses under his breath, nearly silent as he moves around Smitty. “He was with you, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Marcel sighs. “Simone and I were checking on him and then he started convulsing next to her. All these icicles shot out of his back and nearly hit my wife. I shoved her out of the way and took the brunt of his powers.”

The Summer Wind hisses at the handprint on his cheek and Smitty does his best to fully get up. The past events have really taken their toll on him. “Did he slap you?”

“Yeah, that bastard!” Marcel snaps. “Son of a bitch bitchslapped me when I pushed Simone. She’s safe, at least, and I told her to go stay in an area of the Earth that’s warmer and where she can be safe. I said I’d summon her when the coast is clear.”

_ “If _ the coast ever clears up,” Kryoz mutters with contempt in his voice. Smitty can feel his presence right next to him; he’s curled up into a ball, still watching over Smitty. 

“Don’t say that,” Luke says, softer. “We gotta make a plan first. We wait for Smitty to wake up—“

“I’m awake,” Smitty croaks. 

“—and now that that’s done, we come up with a plan to save our Seasons.” Luke finishes. Kryoz immediately goes to wrap himself around Smitty, shuddering and letting a cold breath of air settle on his neck. Smitty shivers, leaning into the slight chill that his boyfriend provides. It isn’t enough to shake the fear from his heart.

“So what, the fucking Seasonal object is destroyed?” Marcel demands. “Winter’s starting to wreck the part of his area; he was in the upper Northeast, we were in New York and playing some hockey. Simone was cheering us on when he screamed and crumpled to the ice. We both ran over and he nearly impaled my fucking wife and I took the shot, I grabbed his arm, and he slapped me.”

“That why your fingertips were frostbitten?” Kryoz asks from where he’s still curled around Smitty. “Didn’t think you could feel cold that badly.”

“I usually can’t,” Marcel admits. “That’s why I sent out the summons as fast as I could and fled to California after sending Simone away. It hurt like a bitch.”

“So what now?” Smitty asks, struggling to get to his feet. Luke hurries to his side and supports the other Wind, gently setting him against a wall. They seem to be placed against the Hollywood sign; they haven’t been there long, since Luke and Kryoz’s aura—the two strongest Winds right now, since Smitty’s weak and Marcel’s powers are still moderately dampened—are still surrounding their group, slowly fading with the breeze.

“There’s not a fucking protocol for this,” Kryoz replies. “What, do we combine forces and drag them through the Garden again?”

Smitty thinks of the amount of power that flooded him from Summer and Autumn, and feels queasy, hands going to his stomach. “If I take them, they’ll rip me apart. Is there anything else we can do?”

Luke’s staring at the sky, eyebrows furrowing. “We went to Time when we found you, Eurus. Maybe our next plan of action is to go back and see what they’ll say.”

It doesn’t take long for everyone to channel their power together and find the coordinates where Time is located again. They’ve shifted over the years, as usual, and this time, they land in Rio de Janeiro. 

The city is beautiful this time of year, lights and colors flashing vividly into the night. Smitty lets the sound of music playing fill his soul before Marcel tugs them over to another beach. 

“I guess this is a trend, huh.” Kryoz grumbles. “Whatever. Someone call them.”

_ No need to, _ a voice that rattles everyone’s core replies. _ I have been, and always will be here. _

“Time,” Smitty rasps, collapsing to his knees in the sand. This time, they don’t need to silently talk to them; Time is all-encompassing around their presence. “We need your help again.”

_ I’m aware of the circumstances. _ Time moves in the back of their minds, silent and always watching. _ This is not something you can fix in the present. If you wish to save the Seasons, you must travel back to when they first met. _

“Oh, boy.” Luke whispers. 

“And what of the weather?” Marcel demands, throwing his hands into the air as he glares at the sky. “Sooner or later, the mortals will realize something’s gone wrong with the Earth.” 

Time does the vague impression of a shrugging hand. _ Boreas, the mortals already don’t believe in climate change. Extreme weather shouldn’t bother them for the next couple of decades as they deny the continuous pattern of Earth spiraling towards the Sun. _

“Damn,” Kryoz grins. 

“So we gotta get a spell to go back in time? Pardon the pun.” Smitty asks, ignoring the part of his conscious that’s crying out in pain. Spring is in agony somewhere, and it hurts to even concentrate on what his Season’s feeling.

Time lets out the equivalent of a sigh. _ Yes, Zephyrus. The four of you will have to go back in time and find the source of their Seasonal object. Once you do, you’ll understand how to fix everything. _

“Will you help us?” Luke asks, arms crossed. “We need to know the limitations of what we can or can’t do in the past. I know how this works.” 

_ Correct, Notus. _ Time chuckles. _ The four of you will not be able to truly interfere with their affairs; it has already happened, so leave it be. You will need to find the origin of their treasure and understand how to recreate it. _

“We need to remake it?” Smitty asks, recalling how Summer’s crown had simply melted into molten gold. “There isn’t any saving it, right?”

_ No, Zephyrus. The treasure has been properly destroyed. You will have to make a new one. _

“Shit,” Kryoz mumbles. “Figured we’d just, I dunno, get some gold from Summer and scoop it together. Make a weird-ass lump and call it a day.”

Time seems to shake from laughter. _ I wish it were that easy. Are you all ready to go back? _

“I don’t think we have a choice if we want to save the Earth,” Marcel mutters, and Time finally does laugh, sending chimes of laughter through their minds. _ Correct, Boreas. Your Seasons chose you well. _

“We didn’t even get a choice in the matter!” Luke throws his hands into the air, sending a gust of warm wind shooting up. “It was so long ago!” 

_ It was millennia ago, _ Time agrees, _ and yet, they’re still very proud of their Winds. Save them, for their sakes and for the planet. I know you all can do it. Good luck. _

Before the rest of them can say anything, the sound of a ticking clock surrounds them. It clicks for several seconds and then rings, sending a shockwave through the four Winds. 

Smitty gasps as he feels his essence get tugged into a singular point along with the others. He feels Marcel’s freezing cold aura balanced by Luke’s blazing hot one; Kryoz, his counterpart, is a cool breeze that feels just right. For a moment, they are One, and they watch the timeline come to a stutter and stop. After this moment, the timeline shoots backwards, dates and years flying by as the Winds get catapulted into the past. 

When they land, all four go flying into different directions. Marcel crashes into a tree; Luke goes face-first into the ground, effectively shattering his sunglasses. Kryoz, still mildly panicked, sends a gust of wind at the ground and yelps as it sends him shooting into the sky again. Smitty, who’s been practicing from taking the Seasons into the Garden, gently settles down on the grass and looks around. 

The air’s clearer here; there’s life flourishing in the hemisphere. Smitty breathes in and shudders at the power ripping through him. Since they’ve traveled through time, it’s still the transition to Autumn, which means Kryoz is shimmering with power when he lands. “Holy shit,” Kryoz exhales, sending a small shot of aura into the sky. “Is this because the Seasons haven’t been created yet?”

“Probably.” Marcel, after detangling himself from the tree, keeps staring at his own body, admiring the snowflakes and ice that coats him. “This isn’t even cold, it feels…like home.”

Smitty can feel the power of life in his veins. He sneezes and a crop of flowers grow at his feet, making Luke snort. “Nice.”

“Well, here we are!” Smitty leaps into the air and hovers, letting his aura ripple out in waves. “We have four Seasons to find. Does anyone remember their origin story?”

“Four mortals got picked to become incredibly famous, got their memories muddled up, and then fell in love after becoming immortal.” Kryoz says dryly. “I only know it because I was trying to find other immortals who fell in love before I asked out Smitty.” 

Luke says a quiet “aw” before Marcel rolls his eyes. “Sappy bastards.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t cry for a day when Simone said yes to your proposal!” Smitty reminds him, remembering when a town nearly got buried in a mass of ice and frigid winds. The temperature had plummeted before anyone could reach Marcel, who had shaken off the whole thing as “hormones”. 

“Whatever,” Marcel grumbles.

“So now we gotta find our Seasons,” Kryoz muses, tapping his finger to his chin. “Any idea where to start?”

Right on cue, a ping goes through their souls. Smitty stumbles as his ping apparently points him to a forest that's long been destroyed. "I guess Spring's in there," he whispers, right as Luke shakes himself like a dog. "Summer's not far from here. I'll catch you guys later; are we bringing them back to the Garden?"

"Pretty sure the Garden doesn't exist right now, but maybe we can start creating it." Smitty answers. "Bring them back here and we'll kickstart the process to get our Seasons back. Good luck guys."

The other three Winds nod and vanish into thin air. Smitty takes a deep breath, puts a wish out to the universe, and lets himself dissolve into the air currents, leaving a trail of petals in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if I don't have a chapter up by the time all my stuff is done, then lemme just give y'all a rundown of shit I'm doing:
> 
> a bunch of exams
> 
> an orientation for a moderately prestigious program in the country (I'm one out of 5 students at my uni lmao rip)
> 
> an interview to become a CA here at my uni
> 
> and various HW assignments :^)
> 
> I'd appreciate some well wishes my way, but if not, thank you for reading the chapter then! I really appreciate it! :D


	3. "a thousand revolutions transport us back to the starting-line"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *raising out of a coffin* I LIVE
> 
> sorry for the wait!!! life keeps me busy and I’m doing my best to go through it. my winter finals are already this week and then I can quit my job lmao because I keep having to wake up at 6 AM and I don’t sleep till 1 AM every day and I’m exhausted
> 
> I have not abandoned my child (aka this story), it was just on hiatus for a bit. thanks for being so patient and leaving me the loveliest comments, which really do help me write a bit more. I really appreciate it!

Smitty isn’t surprised when he finds Spring—no, Craig, playing in a garden.

He lands in a treehouse. He’s surprised, mostly startled by the amount of power in his fingertips when he reaches out and feels the energy flowing through the Earth. 

Spring is beginnings. Spring is new life, of new opportunities and rebirth. Smitty knows he’s the embodiment of his Wind when he understands what he’s set out to do; he’s the one who reunited all the Seasons again and gave them hope to be properly together again. He gave them an opportunity. 

And now, he gets to return the favor. 

The garden that Craig is in flourishes with Smitty’s presence. It’s a weak imitation of the actual Garden of Seasons, but it’ll do for now. He lets himself become invisible and slowly floats down from the treehouse, watching as Craig twirls around with flowers in his hand. As he gets closer, he realizes that the future embodiment of Spring is reciting soup recipes out loud. 

“Rose petals are fucking useless in these,” Craig mutters as he pushes past beautiful rosebushes and setting the flowers down. “Chives are where it’s at, holy shit. I can make a delicious goddamn potato soup with chives and it’ll hold me over forever.” 

Smitty can’t help it; he laughs loudly, curling up in the air. He forms in front of the boy and grins down at him, admiring the flabbergasted expression on the mortal’s face. “Potato soup is pretty good though! It’s a great idea, you should absolutely go for it.”

“What the FUCK.”

Craig’s yell is strangled as he backs up, eyes wide as he trips over a tree branch. There’s fear in his stance and his hands are outstretched in front of him, trembling on the ground. 

Smitty suddenly realizes that he probably looks like a god or some shit, with his bright white hair and multicolor glasses. It’s not common in this time period so of course he’s going to throw Craig off. “Hi there! What’s your name?”

“What in the world are you?” Craig stammers, still shaking. “I—I haven’t done anything wrong, please! I’m just some dude trying to survive out here. Do you need me to worship you or some shit?”

“What?” Smitty wrinkles his nose. “No? Dude, you couldn’t offer me anything I want anyways. All I want is your name.”

Craig squints at him, slowly getting up while keeping his eyes on the current embodiment of Spring. “...What’s the catch, then? I know how the fae work. You trick mortals into contracts and then trap us in your realms until we die.”

“Nah, I just want to give you this. I can also promise you that I’m not a fae.” Smitty holds his hand face-up and lets a bit of magic flow into his palm; green sparks, as vivid as the trees around them, dance in a beautiful cycle that promises the secret of life and rebirth.

The mortal’s face slackens in awe and wonder and he reaches out on instinct. Smitty takes some pity on him and lowers the sparks into his hand, smiling at him. “Isn’t it lovely?”

“Yeah,” Craig breathes out. “But why would you want to give this to me?”

“Because it’s rightfully yours.” Smitty says simply. “Decreed by the heavens and chosen by the Gods and Time and Space. You were picked long ago to inherit the power of beginnings, of a fresh start, of Spring.”

Of course, this is bullshit. Smitty has no idea why they were originally picked; he’s picking Craig only because he knows this is his Season. Maybe...maybe Craig remembered the faint instance of Smitty and chose him to become the Spring Wind many years into the future?

God, time travel sucks.

“But why me?” Craig says with tears in his eyes. “Why have I been picked? There’s probably better people in the world to inherit this!”

“While that may be true,” and Smitty locks eyes with him, knowing every part of this is also true, “your soul is kind enough to take this gift and use it for the world. I know this to be the right choice in choosing you, Craig Thompson.”

Craig jerks back in surprise at the name drop and then looks back at the power in his palms. “...If I take this, then what happens to me?”

Smitty knows he can’t lie to him. “You will stop aging and never die. Immortality is sometimes a burden but I know you’ll be able to handle it.”

Craig laughs bitterly. “I have no family, spirit. No friends, no love. I’m okay with that. But if you called this power Spring, I’m assuming there are others?”

“Three others,” Smitty corrects. “Their powers are quite different but they compliment yours. I know them to be brave and they will be by your side for eternity.”

Craig squints at him, but sighs and nods, hazel eyes determined. “What do I have to do?”

Deep in Smitty’s soul, he knows this power is not his. It’s only borrowed for the time being and it already itches to escape the temporary Season. He calls it easily to his hands, where it flickers like green lightning and builds into a ball.

“Take this, and ingest it,” he commands, and watches with satisfaction as Craig stares at the ball of power. “Please take care of this power. It may seem like Spring can be weak, but you are the start of everyone. Winter may break down everything, but you build the foundation for life. You are always important, Craig.”

“Thanks.” Craig mumbles. He takes a deep breath, lets it out, and tips the ball down his throat. The change takes immediately; Smitty sighs in relief as the power drains from his veins and seems to transfer into Craig’s trembling form, sending a surge through the Earth.

Around them, minuscule changes already seem to be happening. The sunshine seems warmer, the plants seem full of life again, and flowers are already cropping up at Craig’s feet.

“To the Earth, I give thee Spring; inheritor of the cycle of rebirth through life and death.” Smitty says. The words seem to burst forth, and Time’s faint presence lurks in the background. “May his reign through the months be plentiful and may they be kind.”

In his mind’s eye, he sees Time intertwining in Craig’s life, extending it and turning gold as it runs into infinity. 

Craig looks like he’s barely holding on with his new power, lightning crackling around him. “It’s a bit much,” he grits his teeth, looking pained. “Isn’t there a way to channel this or store it??”

_ Smart guy, _ Smitt thinks to himself. _ I never considered that they store some power in the old Seasonal object to make sure it doesn’t overload— _

Oh.

_ Oh. _

Something clicks in the universe.

“Oh,” Smitty breathes. “Yeah, there is, but we gotta meet with the other Seasons to make it.” 

“…How do we do that?”

“Grab my hand,” Smitty instructs. He’s making a plan in his mind, brain running a million miles an hour. It all makes _ sense, _ how could he have missed it! The Winds weren’t as powerful as the Seasons; they just provided support and backup if needed. The Seasons were mortal, just given enough power for an eternal life. The excess power had to go somewhere!

When Spring takes Zephryus’s hand, the two dissolve into the currents again. Spring yelps as they travel through the air and land back where the Winds originally split up. 

As they land, Smitty watches as Kryoz looks up at his love and grins, waving at him from where he stands in the same clearing they started in. “Sup.”

Smitty rolls his eyes and waves back, his ring from Kryoz glinting in the sunshine. “Hey, loser.”

Behind Kryoz, a younger version of Jon stares back and shies away, hiding behind Kryoz's long legs. “Who is he, Eurus? And who’s that guy?”

This isn’t the relaxed and chill Autumn that Smitty knows, so he instead smiles and gestures towards Craig. “I’m Zephyrus, and this is Spring! He’ll be joining you and the rest of the Seasons.” 

“Okay,” Jon whispers. He still looks nervous; autumn leaves are cropping up at his feet, and the Winds presence keeps kicking them into the sky. A cold chill runs over the group and both Smitty and Spring gasp in surprise. Kryoz and Autumn have a much weaker reaction, as Autumn and Winter can go hand in hand with their temperature fluctuations. 

Marcel appears with a younger Evan at his side. The two look, and pardon the pun, chilled out as snow starts bunching up under Evan’s red shoes. “The champions have arrived," Marcel says proudly. Evan laughs, the sound sending snowflakes into the sky. "This is our first impression, and you're saying that?"

"Winter is pretty fucking cool though." Marcel shrugs. "And yeah, I guess everyone else is alright."

"Okay, bitch." Kryoz retorts, making Smitty snicker and the other Seasons to stare at them in surprise. "Halloween is a damn good holiday and I've also got Thanksgiving too."

"Does Easter count as a national holiday?" Smitty asks. "Spring Break is also mine, and that's party time!"

"Don't you dare leave us out!" Luke's voice echos through the wind currents. He forms near Marcel, and Tyler follows close behind. He looks like an asshole and Smitty has to pinch himself to not laugh at the grumpy expression on his face. Evan, however, seems fascinated with their final Season. "Hi there! I'm guessing you'll be Summer?"

"What's it to you," Tyler mutters, but he seems to be looking at him with curiosity. "You Winter?"

"Yeah!" Evan says excitedly. He seems to be the most cheerful of the group, and his energy starts attracting Craig and Jon over. Jon, still burrowed in his infamous blue hoodie, cocks his head as he looks down at Evan. "So, what now? What do we do?"

Luke looks down at the grass and grins. "I think you guys are creating your own sanctuary without realizing it."

Sure enough, they are. The sections are getting automatically divided by various climate patterns. A slow progression of flowers start growing from Spring and Summer's section, and a few leaves are appearing for Autumn. Snow's already starting to build up in Winter's area.

"The Garden of Seasons," Smitty whispers. 

In a few thousand years, the mortals will stumble upon this area and find it so lovely, they'll create structures to admire its beauty. Pictures will be taken and love will blossom in the entire area, a sense of equilibrium falling over anyone who stops by to view the Garden. 

"FUCK!"

The Winds snap their heads up to see Tyler sparking. He grits his teeth, holding his Summer powers down, but they're still violently sparking as sunlight keeps flickering off. Evan's the next to gasp as icicles shoot out of his body. "Ow! This hurts, shit!"

Jon's yelps are faint as his entire body starts to crack; Craig has thorns ripping from his skin as he collapses to the ground. "Too much power," Smitty whispers. "If they have too much, then they'll need an outlet for the remainder." With that, he slaps his hands together and does his best to concentrate. "The rest of you, help me! We gotta remake their tokens!"

"We don't have any tokens, Smitt." Luke replies, clearly itching to go help Summer. They know they can't get close; the Seasons are always more powerful than the Winds, and they're already risking their own powers by staying in the area. "You're the only one that got all four."

"Shit," Smitty hisses, because damn it, he did! Okay. They might've snapped off, but he still wore them for a decent amount of time. Flowers from Spring's area come together in his palms; it's much easier to create his own Season's, after all. After pressing together to make pressure, he traces a circle with both hands in perfect symmetry. The flowers follow his path, and snap together to make the flower crown Spring had given Smitty. 

"Here's some of Summer!" Luke comes rushing over with sunflowers in his hands. With Luke's hands on his shoulders, and recreating the same moves, he solidifies the flowers into Summer's golden circlet. 

"Why isn't it their actual Seasonal object?" Marcel shouts above the swirl of power that's starting to encompass the Seasons. "Doesn't Summer have an actual golden crown, not a circlet?"

"They have to make those themselves!" Smitty yells back. "This is just a kickstart for them!"

Kryoz sends his power into Smitty's hands, along with a pile of leaves, and Smitty starts to get a headache as he creates the bracelet he had. Luckily, it's not far off from Autumn's actual object, so it's not that hard to recreate.

Marcel's last. He shoulders past Luke and Kryoz, who rush to put the tokens on their respective Seasons, and sends an icy blast through Smitty. He shrieks and does his best not to crumple to the floor. "He made me a ring! Grab a fucking snowflake!"

Kryoz is the closest; he sends one shooting on the breeze and Marcel does an impressive slam-dunk into Smitty's palms. The last hit of power creates the silver and blue ring, and Smitty drops to the ground as Marcel runs to Winter's side. The moment Luke puts Spring's flower crown on him, the vortex of power settles down and all four Seasons pant with exhaustion. 

"I put my power into the circlet," Tyler wheezes out. "It doesn't feel like it's gonna rip me apart this time." 

"I'm already feeling better too." Evan rolls over on his back and looks up at the sky, still catching his breath. "God, that fucking hurt."

Tyler reaches over and pokes Evan. The two yelp in shock as the point of contact sends sparks out. "Okay, let's wait on doing that."

Spring, who's been fingering his flower crown, takes a deep breath and lets it shrink down into a ring. "I don't want to confuse this crown with the other ones I'll probably make."

Autumn's already changing his simple bracelet to one that has various charms on it, admiring how it catches in the sunshine. "This is pretty..."

Summer's circlet expands into the golden crown they all know and love. "This is more like it!"

Winter takes off his ring and crushes it in his palm. With the flick of a hand, it extends into the sky and becomes a staff topped with a snowflake. "It's like a wand! Cool. I like it."

"Last thing before we leave," Marcel steps forward with Luke. Kryoz is still comforting Smitty, who's trying to settle his heartbeat. "All four of you need to put all four of those objects together to create a single one. Only one Season is able to reign for a certain amount of time, alright? And all of you can't be together for too long. The power will go haywire and we won't be there to help for a long time. We'll allow you guys to stay together and get to know each other for a couple years, but after that, you'll have to split for a while."

The four young Seasons glance at each other, and Smitty watches in awe as they already start to stand together. Tyler and Evan slip their hands into each other's, Jon hangs onto Evan's shoulder, and Craig wraps his arm around Tyler's. "Will we ever get to see each other again?" Autumn whispers, eyes huge as they stare at the Winds. 

The Winds turn to look at Smitty, who does his best to stand tall (even though he's the shortest of the Winds). His answer is final, tinged with confidence and strength. "Yes," he says firmly. "I can absolutely promise you that."

The four Seasons grin at each other. "Sounds fun!" Winter says, laughing as Autumn pulls a face. "I think spending eternity with you guys is gonna be really interesting."

A wind that feels like Time circles around them, and Smitty knows their time is up. "It was nice to meet all of you," he says softly. "Be kind, be safe, and remember to love life."

"Wait, where are you going?" Spring peers at him as the Winds come together. "Aren't you going to help us with this?"

"I think you guys have it figured out." Luke grins. "I'm not too worried about it."

The Seasons exchange glances and then step back to press their objects together. A bright light encompasses all four, and the Winds start to dissolve to head back to the present. "We still gotta save our current Seasons," Marcel whispers, and Smitty shakes his head. "I know what we have to do. We just have to be very, very careful about how we're gonna do this."

"Thank god for that," Kryoz mutters, and Luke snorts as they disappear. 

Before they get thrown back, Smitty pokes his head out and shouts, "SPRING!"

Craig looks up from where the Seasonal object is getting formed. "YEAH?"

Smitty's grin is bright as he vanishes. "Have you considered dying your hair?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been on a BNHA binge if you couldn’t tell :^) I’m a manga reader so I’m already losing my shit over the current season. I’m so excited for the big fight that’s coming up. 
> 
> me, while writing this chapter: "what if I throw in some time bullshit that they chose the Seasons and that's why they're the Winds because the Seasons very briefly remember who gave them the power and ooOOOHHHH"


	4. "stick-together family that wins the joys of earth"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy holidays everyone! :D
> 
> finished my finals and raised my GPA and I'm very thankful lmfao so now I'm home for break! I'm pretty positive that I won't be able to update before New Year's, and I am sorry about that, so I'll take this opportunity to say Happy New Year's as well! 
> 
> here's to a great 2020 and here's to me getting over writer's block and writing more stories. cheers!

Time, as moderately helpful as it is, dumps Smitty out by himself in a garden smack dab in the middle of nowhere. What the fuck.

Everyone’s aura is faint as Smitty draws in a large breath to summon them, and then gets slammed with a feeling of agony that sends him stumbling to his knees. A loud screech rattles around in his head, and Smitty grits his teeth as it grows to a wail and then breaks down into sobs. 

A tentative poke from his aura, and Smitty gasps as an empty feeling crashes over him as he realizes _ exactly _ where he’s at. 

“SPRING!” Smitty hollers, trudging forward through the misty haze that’s starting to surround his shoes. The garden keeps dying and reforming, washed out flowers with sharp thorns poking out of the ground. The haunting feel of this particular garden settles into Smitty’s bones like a poison.

In the center, surrounded by vines and thorns, Spring struggles weakly against his cage. Flowers curl around his body and he keeps on spitting out petals, tears dripping as he viciously sobs.

“SPRING!” Smitty shouts again. “CRAIG! LOOK AT ME, ASSHOLE!”

With a sluggishness that he doesn’t expect, Spring finally looks up and a light comes back into his eyes. “Smitty?” He croaks out, vision blurry. “What...what are you doing here—BLUH.”

Craig spits out a huge thorn, staring down at the golden ichor that drips out alongside it. “It’s ripping my mouth,” he whispers as Smitty floats closer to the prison. “There’s too much of me here, I’m barely controlling it—“

“Do you know what happened?” Smitty asks, reaching forward with his own Wind power. A thorny vine lashes out and Smitty retreats, eyes narrowed.

“No,” Spring chokes. “I was minding my own business when something in me snapped and there was so much pain. All the power flowed out and it’s starting to rip me apart. What happened to me??”

A younger version of Spring flashes in Smitty’s memories, of pain and power and a funnel. “Summer and Autumn were fighting and they shattered the Seasonal object,” he simply says. He doesn’t know what the fight was about, but he knows that it isn’t his business. (Even though all the Seasons and the Winds intervened in his relationship with Kryoz—actually, y’know what...)

“They were arguing about the relationship and what they bring with their Season,” Smitty sighs. “Summer interpreted an answer as he destroys, and then said that Autumn loves Winter the most, and then they both poured their entire power into Summer’s crown and it ripped itself apart.”

For a single moment, Spring’s expression darkens. The sun fades, the thorns seem sharper, and the cycle of the garden pulses like a weapon. Spring looks legitimately terrifying as he snarls, “They _ what?” _

“Shenanigans,” Smitty grumbles. “Listen, I know how to fix this. I’m gonna need you and Evan to talk to those dumbasses once we get you guys back to normal.”

Spring’s rage is apparently giving him strength as he struggles to stand up, bracing against his vine cage. “I’m gonna fucking beat the shit out of them,” he growls. The cage expands a bit and Smitty gets to work. 

He crafts Spring’s token again and gently puts it together, smiling in relief as some of the power from the garden starts to funnel into the flower crown. When enough of it settles into the crown, the vines retreat away from Spring and Smitty goes to set the flowers down on his head. 

There’s a sigh of relief as Spring shakes off his drowsiness and stands to power again, eyes glowing and angry snarl baring his canines. ** “We already talked about this before,” ** Spring spits, dripping golden ichor. After a moment, he sighs and settles down, shaking off the power curling in his palms. “I suppose we’ll deal with that when we come to it, hm?”

“Yeah,” Smitty exhales, eyes still wide from the show of power. It’s a bit terrifying to be upfront in its beauty and terror, even if he wielded it in his body only a short time ago.

“Right!” With that, Spring claps his hands together, looking better than he did a few minutes ago. “Now that I feel like my head isn’t splitting open anymore, let’s go find these idiots so I can smack them.”

There’s a tug in Smitty’s core that he recognizes as Boreas. He wordlessly reaches out to his fellow Wind and grabs Craig’s hand, letting the two of them vanish into the breeze to the ping he’s sent out. 

They warp into Rockefeller Center, where Marcel’s doing his best to contain Evan. The Season is crying out, icicles pulsing out of his skin and trying to stop the blizzard that’s surrounding him. 

“WINTER!” Spring yells, rushing forward. Marcel sends a sharp gust of Wind that pushes Spring to the side; a second later, a large icicle impales the spot where he was just standing. 

“Not a good move,” Marcel hisses. “I can’t get close to him. How the hell did you get Spring out of this?”

“I put the pieces together.” Smitty replies. He reaches down to grab the icicle and gets Spring to melt it, eyes closing as he recreates the ring. “Marcel, I know you’re hurt, and I know you’ve done enough already. Are you willing to get close enough to put this on Winter’s finger?”

Marcel stares at him, Boreas to Zephryus, two Winds who had done so much for the Seasons, and sighs with the force of a millennia behind it. “I suppose you can’t do everything this cycle.”

“Not this time,” Smitty whispers. “I’m sorry.”

The North Wind huffs out an exasperated breath, and then suddenly grins at Smitt, eyes flashing bright with an energy he hadn’t expected. “Let some of us get some credit! We’re your friends and we’re bonded for life. You’re strong like the rest of us, but you can’t do it all.”

Smitty only nods and blinks away tears in his eyes. Marcel smiles at him, genuine in every word, and goes to take the ring from Smitty. He takes a deep breath and then rushes into Winter’s blizzard, yelling like a Viking at the top of his lungs.

The entire ordeal takes about a minute. Craig grasps onto Smitty’s arm, eyes dark as he continues to try and regain his bearings. The blizzard dies down and there sits Evan, with Marcel draped across his lap. The Season looks ragged, chest heaving as he breathes out a trail of snow flurries.

“Thank you,” Evan rasps, eyes closing as he fiddles with the ring on his finger. “Let’s go save our loves.”

The four of them cling together and head over to Yellowstone, where they remember Autumn and Summer were at in the very beginning. They’re all exhausted; Marcel and Smitty are at their limits already, and Craig and Evan are overspent with their powers. It’s been an incredibly long experience already.

When they appear, there's a hunched figure curled up with gold dripping from his mouth and eyes. Notus is standing over the melted form of Summer, eyes wide while trying to get the golden circlet on his head. Even using his Wind isn't helping; the moment it gets close, a geyser of gold erupts and forces the circlet away. "YOU STUBBORN BASTARD!" Luke roars, floating above his Season. "LET ME PUT THE GODDAMN CROWN ON!"

"It's a circlet," Eurus calls from where he's trying to round up the remainder of Autumn. His own Season is cracked like a mirror, leaves pouring out of the cracks and piling up on the ground. Jon's not making any noise as he writhes in agony. Kryoz looks grumpy as he tries to get close with his own respective bracelet for Autumn.

Smitty's nearly out of energy already. He slumps against Marcel, who he hasn't realized has frosted over skin due to being in Winter's blizzard.

(He doesn't know it himself, but Smitty's dripping some blood himself after getting hit by some of Spring's thorns.)

"I can't do anything," Smitty huffs as Marcel uses his weight to set them both down on the dirt. Spring and Winter whip around with their eyes wide. "What do you need us to do, then?" Evan asks, biting his lip. The loves of his life are in pain and they still don't know what to do. 

"You gotta," Smitty wheezes, "get their tokens on and then push them together to make the object again. Please. We can't do it anymore."

Craig makes a noise that can only be described as a dial-up sound and Evan, out of stress and determination, lets out a laugh that makes him lose his breath for a few moments. "Okay, okay! We'll distract Tyler and Jon so Luke and Kryoz can do their jobs."

"Oh boy," Craig mutters under his breath. "I get Jon, you get Tyler?"

"Deal." Evan nods. They both lean forward to share a gentle kiss, Evan's hand cupping Craig's chin, and then they're off. 

Craig almost eats shit as he runs to Jon, but quickly regains his balance and throws himself onto Jon. "BABE!" He hollers, hands landing on his body as Jon starts thrashing around. "CALM DOWN!"

** "Hurts," ** Jon whispers, face cracking even more. ** "I'm...fucking idiot..." **

"We can talk about that later." Craig says firmly, holding him down. "Kryoz, now!"

The bracelet gets clasped on and Autumn nearly sobs in relief as his overflowing power settles down. "Thank you," he cries, burying his head into Craig's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

Craig cups the back of Jon's head and shuts his eyes, wrapping one of his boyfriends to his chest. 

On the other side of the clearing, Evan screeches as he lands on Tyler's golden back. The molten gold's burning him, but Evan's still determined so he wrenches Tyler's head up and grits his teeth to bare the golden geyser. "LUKE!"

A sharp gust of South Wind, and the circlet settles down. Tyler spews more gold before slumping down, powers completely drained. "Shit," he rasps. "Shit, Evan, I'm so fucking sorry—"

"Don't apologize to me," Evan murmurs. "I'm not the one who needs to know." 

All four Seasons sit on the ground, and Summer and Autumn stare at each other across the way. They both whisper each other's names, nearly silent on the breeze.

"My love," Tyler whispers.

"Light of my life," Jon croons back. 

The four take a deep breath, as one, and then promptly pass out. 

"Are you fucking serious," Kryoz groans from where he's slumped over on Smitty. Luke, the only one standing with several burns on his body, tips his head back and lets out an anguished yell. "So we're all exhausted, we've traveled back in time, and now we gotta drag them together to basically force them to make their own goddamn Seasonal object?"

Smitty can't help it; he cracks up, throwing his head back to laugh and then start crying. "Oh my god," he sobs, wiping his tears away as Marcel pats his hair. "Really?"

Luke finally sits down with his team and lays down with them. "How bout this," he says wearily. "A quick power nap, and then we wake them up so they can fix everything."

"Sounds perfect." Kryoz mumbles, already nodding off. Smitty relaxes in the giant pile and dozes off, cozy in Kryoz's arms, Luke's lap, and with Marcel's hand curled around his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still getting ready for the overhaul fight. still ready to lose my mind.


	5. “the mask of darkness fell from the awakened Earth”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to the end of Pandora's Box! as of now, I don't have any current plans for any sequels, but thank you so much for sticking with me through this adventure! I really appreciate it! :D <3

"You’re a fucking idiot.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

A couple of hours after the Winds save their Seasons, Smitty sits in the Garden of Seasons and watches as Winter chastises Summer and Autumn for legitimately “almost destroying humanity and all of its creatures”. 

“I feel like this happens a lot though,” Jon grumbles as Evan glares at him. “The end of the world and all that, and don’t we always fix it?”

(Smitty has a vision at that exact moment, of timelines stretching across the galaxy; split mountains and cracking stars fluttering down, of bringing an immortal God across realms to restore the heavens after he fell.

He has no idea what it means.)

“Well _ yeah, _ but that’s not the point!” Evan insists. “You guys need to be more careful with this! I thought we talked about that, love.” 

On the other side of the Garden, Tyler looks ashamed as well. Craig sighs as he pats one of his boyfriends on the back. “We talked about that millennia ago. We love all of you equally; no matter what, no one more than the other. There are no favorites.”

“I know,” Tyler mutters. “Just feels like there are sometimes.”

Jon gets up from his spot and sways as he hurries to Summer’s side. He stumbles as he sits, wrapping his arms around him. “I’m sorry,” he whines, burrowing his head into his shoulder. “Tylerrrrrr. I’m so sorry my dear, I never meant to make you feel like that. I’m sorry that I said you destroy; you’re light and beautiful and golden.”

Tyler lets out a deep sigh and brings Autumn to his chest, squeezing the other Season. “I’m sorry for calling you names and said that you like Winter the most. I forgive you, okay? Let’s move forward from this together. I love you, you know that right?”

“Of course I do.” Jon closes his eyes and exhales, settling down against Summer. “…Winter?”

“Coming,” Evan laughs, sitting next to the other two. “And yes, I love you both too. Spring?”

Smitty looks over at his own Season, who’s still standing in his corner with his shoulders hunched. “The world almost ended because we didn’t communicate again,” he mumbles, staring down at his section. “We can’t keep relying on the Winds to bail us out over and over again.”

The other Seasons look over at their Winds; Kryoz is hanging off of Smitty’s shoulder, Luke and Marcel applying burn ointment and treating frostbite on each other from their respective injuries. Smitty himself has bandages on from the thorns that pierced his skin. Kryoz was the luckiest of the four. 

“That’s true,” Jon murmurs. “You’ve done so much for us that we should’ve done for ourselves. We can’t keep calling upon you to fix our problems, especially you, Zephyrus. We need to give you a break.”

“I don’t need one,” Smitty says weakly, and hisses as Kryoz gently pokes his ribs. “Alright, fine. Maybe I do. But I can’t just leave you guys for a while!”

“We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.” Evan says with a small smile. “It’s the least we can do for you. Please take a rest from taking care of us. Will you be able to do that?”

“Before we went on this adventure, we were in Greece, so yeah I’m pretty sure I can do that.” Smitty cracks a smile. “It’ll be nice to eat some mortal food again.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kryoz cheers. “I miss that ocean breeze. Let’s go back when we’re done here.” 

“Deal,” Smitty replies, and laughs when Kryoz presses a kiss to his cheek. “It’s been a really long…what, day or two? Something like that?”

“A millennium; we went back in time, remember?” Luke pips up and Marcel groans, making the other Winds laugh. “No wonder we’re exhausted again! We time-traveled!”

“You what?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Before we go, what do you need from us?” Luke asks. “Because I’m going take a very long nap when I leave.” 

“I’m going to go see my wife and treat her to the best goddamn date she’s ever had,” Marcel declares. “I don’t give a FUCK if the world’s ending, I’m not leaving date night.”

“Doubt we’ll need anything.” Craig smiles at them as he goes to curl up with his loves. “We can go back by ourselves and Time will finish out its spell. We’ll be okay!”

“Yeah!” Jon says excitedly. “We’ll spend some time talking about what happened and then resolve not to do that again. Maybe we can find an unbiased person to talk with us next time.”

“That’d be nice,” Kryoz says dryly. “I had no idea that my job description included being a temporary therapist.”

“And we’re sorry about that!” Evan says, genuinely apologetic. “But thank you for all you’ve done for us. Please go rest, alright?"

Smitty takes one last look at his beloved Seasons in all of their glory, at their prime with power and smiles. "Will do. Enjoy your break!" 

The four Seasons wave and grin as the Garden melts away from them. Smitty emerges back in Yellowstone, stumbling a bit as Kryoz steadies him. "I think that'll be our last adventure for a while," Smitty admits as Luke laughs. "I'm serious! If they send an SOS, I'll put it to voicemail on the breeze. I'll redirect the currents away from us."

"That's not a bad idea actually..." Marcel mumbles as he stares at the sky. A bolt of frigid wind spirals into the air, and merely a few minutes later, Simone descends with a nervous smile. "Everything alright?"

"For now, yeah!" Marcel reaches forward to tug her into his orbit. "I love you. Let's go to England, they've got some shops I wanna try."

The two wave farewell and Luke turns to his other fellow Winds. "Thanks for saving the world again," he addresses Smitty. "Maybe this next time we'll let the Seasons do it, since it's kinda a late notice for the rest of us."

Kryoz laughs, draped across Smitty's back. "We'll put in a system that makes them wait a bit before calling on us. The first Season to crack has a punishment or some shit." 

Smitty watches them joke around and settles in his spot, waving when Luke says his goodbyes and vanishes as well. The final two, Zephyrus and Eurus, look at each other and grin. "To Greece?" Kryoz asks, getting down from Smitty's back and stretching. Smitty takes the moment to gaze at his boyfriend, with his cropped white hair and infinite rings. He reaches forward to squeeze his hand and smile at him, feeling unconditional love rise up. 

"Yeah," he murmurs, and the two vanish into the breeze for a well-deserved nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> saw the Overhaul fight the day it came out and on god it changed my entire life. it's been over a week and I keep rewatching the scene where Midoriya saves Eri because I lost my fucking mind at the animation and music. goddamn.
> 
> I'm also in the Force Of Nature Zine for my gremlin son Bakugou Katsuki! shameless promo since I'm ecstatic that I'm working in it. it's going really well so far :')

**Author's Note:**

> the original idea was to have them lose the Seasonal object, but I straight up forgot about that and instead had them destroy it. it happens ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
